


The Human Life

by AbbieMaeH



Category: Being Human (UK)
Genre: Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-03-10
Packaged: 2018-01-15 06:58:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1295695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbbieMaeH/pseuds/AbbieMaeH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They have finally defeated the devil, Alex, Tom, and Hal suddenly find themselves human again, until sinister echoes begin reminding them that all is not perfect .</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Human Life

**Author's Note:**

> This is my work if you would like to adapt it or use elemets of it please can you contact me at amhorrocks@hotmail.com to get my permission , if you do not you are breaking copyright laws.

The television chattered happily as Alex crammed another biscuit on her mouth, all the while complaining that she was far too full to take another bite. She was having trouble stopping.

"Nobody is making you eat anything," said Hal, mildly exasperated. He was in a strange mood. Human again. Human. He had a reflection. And a soul. And a heart that beat like a drum in his wide chest. He couldn't quite believe it, after all these years. Couldn't seem to stop turning around to check his reflection in the mirror behind the bar in the living room of the Honolulu Heights Bed and Bath in Barry, Wales, in which he and his two house mates resided. For the first time in more than five hundred years, he, Hal Yorke, could see his reflection. His nose was larger than he remembered, and he was beginning to realize that short hair really did suit him better than he'd originally believed. He kept running his fingers across his face, watching as they moved in real-time in the mirror. He shook his head. It was unreal.

"Nobody's making me stop eating either, I see," Alex smart mouthed through a face full of biscuit, bringing him back to earth. Bits of biscuit crumbled onto her face. With out meaning to, Hal reached over and brushed a crumb from her dainty chin, his finger lingering on her soft skin. She looked startled for a moment, and the laughed, a wide-mouthed, full-voiced laugh. Hal pulled away, feeling heat rise to his face for the first time in five centuries "Oh my god! Oh my god, Tom, look, I think he's blushing! Our Hal is blushing!" Alex guffawed, punching Hal in the arm, getting crumbs on his dark grey zip up. "I didn't think you were the type."

"Ow," Said Hal, rubbing his upper arm and brushing away the crumbs. "I'll have a bruise there in the morning, you do realize."

"Oh, Shut up ya big baby. You're worse than wee Ryan when he got his dumb tattoo! He cried. Actually cried, when he saw it in the mirror" She stretched out on the couch, gingerly resting her head on his shoulder. She wiggled her toes in the air and sighed. "It feels sooo good to finally take off those fucking boots. And the ghastly bra." She winked at Hal and he flushed again, blood pinking his no-longer-pale cheeks. "Thanks again Tom for the clothes," she said, turning to look at him, "I couldn't stand another minute in that stupid dress."

Tom nodded sheepishly. It was strange to see Alex in different clothes. In his clothes. The tank top and cargo shorts suited her surprisingly well, although he knew McNair would have thought it unladylike for her to wear them. He was beginning to realize that despite all of the good advice that McNair had given him, his father had been mistaken about many things. "No problem Alex, glad yah think it suitchya." Her bare, narrow shoulders were strange to see. The leather jacket and green dress almost seemed like a part of her now, as permanent as her eyes or her hands, and the change of clothes made look like an entirely new person. "I think we should-"

"Oh, oh, be quiet," She exclaimed, cutting him off, "They're about to announce the price!"

***  
Later that night, After Hal had brushed his teeth, done his press-ups and re-aligned all of his books on their shelves and gotten into to bed to read (more out of habit then necessity. Now that he knew he need never worry about the bad Hal again, the old routines were a little pointless) there came a knock at his door. "Come in," he said, looking up, only a little irritated at having been interrupted from his rereading of "Watership down." It was a favorite book of his, one that he'd read countless times before. The pages were soft around the edges, worn from too much handling. It was familiar text.

"I guess I can't rent-a-ghost in here anymore and catch you by surprise, huh?" said Alex, squeezing through his door. She was still wearing Tom's shirt on the top and, to Hal's mortification, only underwear on the bottom. Her legs were long and white, athletic from years of playing swing ball and other sports with her three brothers. She was small, but far from frail.

"Can I, um, help you with anything?" He asked, struggling to keep his eyes and his voice level. He'd never been good with women. Especially not the beautiful ones.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you had any idea where we kept the linens." She scratched her head in embarrassment "I realized none of the beds in any of the other rooms were made up. I never bothered to find out where the sheets were, because I didn't need a bed before, since, you know, ghosts don't sleep." She said the last bit a little helplessly, like her time as a member of the deceased still weighed uncomfortably heavy on her mind.

"Uh," Hal realized he had no idea where they kept fresh sheets. Annie would have known. It was Annie who had given him this room, who had made up beds for Leo and him when they'd first arrived, along with Pearl, at Honolulu Heights all those months ago. "I haven't a clue. Maybe you could sleep downstairs? Under that ridiculous furry blanket Tom dragged home last week for the sofa?"

"Uh-uh. No way am I spending my first night's sleep in four bloody months sleeping downstairs on the sofa like some trampy little couch surf! No sir!" She planted her foot firmly on the floor. Then, for the very first time, she noticed the size of Hal's bed. "Say, that's at least a full, right?" she asked slyly, her pixie head tilted ever so slightly to the left.

"What are you getting at?" Hal asked warily, setting down his book on the nightstand.

"There's more then enough room in that big ol' thing for the both of us, dontchya think?" she suggested with sly glee. Hal looked uncomfortable. She rolled her eyes. "I'm not gonna try anything, Hal." She said. "Besides, I thought you didn't have to worry about being a chaste little school girl now that your 'curse has been lifted' and stuff. You're free to do wha' ever the bloody hell you want."

"It's um, not that," He closed his eyes briefly. "I was just, uh, wondering if perhaps you'd be a little more comfortable sleeping on your own."

"Naw, I've shared beds before plenty of times." She caught the look of surprise and embarrassment on Hal's face and laughed. "Not like that." Then, with a twinkle in her hazel eyes, "Well, not always like that. If it makes you more comfortable, I'll go and grab a couple'o the pillows offa the sofa to make a little partition between us—" She stopped mid-sentence and raised her eyebrows, soliciting a response a response from him.

Oh fine, you can spend tonight in here. But just tonight! I'll help you find a proper bed tomorrow." He rolled onto his side and picked up his book again. He felt the mattress move as her slight weight sunk into it. His heart beat a little faster as he realized how close she was to him. How near their bodies were in the intimate setting of his room.

"Whatchya reading?" she asked quietly, her breath tickling the back of his neck. His back stiffened

"It's called Watership Down, Alex, and it is a book that I wish to continue reading at the moment," He said, a little too brusquely. He felt her turn away from him, and immediately regretted his harshness. She'd once told him that he had terrible people skills, and it was true.

A half hour later, he set the book down and got up to turn off the light. As he stood, he realized that Alex's eyes were trained on him, and she was far from asleep. He could see mild fear in her eyes. Fear was an emotion with which he was well acquainted, even if he did not often experience it. Quietly, he sat back down beside her. "What's wrong?" He asked, remembering his harshness from earlier, and doing his best to make amends for it.

"I can't fall asleep," she said quietly. Much quieter then he'd ever heard her speak before. It was unAlex-like. "It feels so much like dying. Like drifting away. Like becoming- what's the word?- ah, intangible. And what if I dream? Jesus, what if I dream about when I died? Or all those poor people who Hatch killed! What if I dream about them?" Her eyes were wide in her pale face, and all her good humor seemed to have gone, replaced by fear. Hal wanted nothing more than to banish that fear, but he couldn't find the words to do it. He'd never been very good at offering comfort. Another ting to add to the list of thing that he was terrible at. "Do you ever dream about them, Hal?" She asked suddenly.

He inhaled sharply, unprepared for this personal question. "Who?" He asked carefully, narrowing his dark eyes. He was sure he knew what she was talking about, but he couldn't bear to speak it.

"Every night," he said at last, still not looking at her. "I dream of them every night. All the faceless thousands. Although for me, they are not faceless. Oh no," He barked a humorless laugh, "I always remember their faces, their names, even the things they cried out as they died. I can't forget a single one of them. They are so real to me, like reflections in a window pane. Always staring back.

"That's awful."

"Isn't it?" he agreed.

"What about when you're bad Hal? Do you remember them then?"

"No, not then." He hesitated, and then admitted, "I think it's part of the reason behind my cyclical return to him. To evil and murder. He is fearless, and remorseless, and a hedonistic brute. He knows no pain, no guilt. Do you know what it's like, not to feel any guilt?" she shook her head, not sure what to say. "It feels like being free."

They were quiet for a minute. It was a far from comfortable silence, as both of them reflected on the depth and implications of what he'd said, and then Alex asked, tentatively. "Hey, um," She squinched her eyebrows together, "would you mind reading me some of that book?"

"Huh?"

"Watery Down, or wha'ever it's called."

"Watership Down?" He corrected absentmindedly, running his fingers over the fading cover.

"Yeah, that." She put her hands behind her head, relaxing into his soft pillows. The smelled not unpleasantly of clean sweat and the high-end shampoo that Hal liked to use on his hair.

"I'm half way through it though," he protested, picking the book back up. "I'm afraid it's not going to make any sense to you."

"Doesn't matter. Just start where ever. Doesn't bother me." Hal realized that she was offering him a way to comfort her. A way to put her at ease.

"Okay then. Let me explain it a bit first." He did. And then he opened the book to the page that he'd carefully marked with a plain brown leather bookmark. "When several creatures—men or animals— have worked together to over come something offering resistance and have at last succeeded, there follows often a pause…" He began, then paused and looked down at Alex. Her eyes were closed, and her head was tilted towards him. He could see the eyeliner she'd worn for more then two months beginning to smear off. It almost looked like she'd been crying

"Don't stop, toothless," she said after a moment, opening one eye for a second, then closing it and nuzzling deeper into his bed and closer to him. He smiled, just a little bit, and then continued to read, his refined voice swinging over the words with the fluency of someone who has nearly memorized the text that they are reading. Before long, Alex, stopped moving restlessly, and settled into a comfortable position, facing towards him. Her breathing was easy, but he could feel the intensity of her listening.

He didn't stop until he heard her give a gentle snore.

***

"Uh, 'ello?" Said Tom from the door way. His face was towards the door, looking bashfully away from Hal and Alex, who lay tangled together in Hal's bed, limbs twisting together through the sheets. Hal looked up sleepily at Tom, then looked down at Alex, realizing for the first time that he was holding her tight in his arms. During the night, he must have take hold of her.

He'd woken up this way many times before, covered in blood and with a body that needed disposing of. It took a moment for the events of the day before to come crashing back down on him, and for him to realize that the girl was Alex, and that she was still breathing. And there was no blood. For the first time in five centuries, he woke up not craving blood. The taste of it, the sweet hot scent of it. Thinking of it now didn't awaken any carnal lusting. He felt only mild revulsion. It was elating. "This is about the birds and the bees, innit Hal?" said Tom to the door, not turning to face Hal and Alex. " 'cept not the kind you find in da woods, or the kind McNair taught me about, right?"

"No. No no no," Said Hal emphatically, untangling himself from warm, sleepy Alex. It felt amazing to wake up beside another living being for... the first time in a very long while, and he was reluctant to let her go. "That is not at all what is happening here! We were just- She came in her last night and- I swear this isn't what it looks like."

Hal?" yawned Alex blearily. She opened an eye and looked up at Tom. "Oh, hey there." She snuggled back down into the sheets. "It's sorta cold in here. Huh, feels funny being cold again. I like it!" Her short hair, mussed up hair was pushed flat where she'd slept on it and stood up straight on the other side. She looked like a sleepy hedgehog.

"Are you and Hal doin' the sex?" Asked Tom uncomfortably, still not turning to look at them. His hands were wrapped around his arms

Alex turned to look up at Hal, raising her eyebrows and pulling down the corners of her mouth in a manner that Hal found both infuriating and intriguing. It was so cute, it was so... Alex. She was clearly trying hard not to laugh, sparks of joviality flashing in her hazel eyes.. "A: did you seriously just call it "The sex," and B: No, we are totally not."

"Oh good," said Tom, turning around in obvious relief, his sad puppy eyebrows relaxing away from the furrow they'd plowed in his face. " 'cause I made breakfast. A good, propah breakfast for the three of us." Alex was out of the bed in seconds . 

Human life is not all it seems , it is miss used , miss understood.Life is all anyone has , there is nothing after death , just darkness. It is a curse from the devil to live forever and a curse from god to die.Their are things out there that no one can comprehend , we as humans need to be protected.Evil is just a force , it cannot be stopped but it can be Broken temporarily.The Devil cannot be killed , HE WILL return and No one can stop him this time People will return to their cursed states , Hal will become vampire again , Tom will find the wolf inside and Alex will find her door.Evil is a force equal to good , only one can prevail.Evil will turn on itself and see the light and good will turn evil.We only have time left.


End file.
